The National Rifle Association's National School Shield project released a series of recommendations Tuesday it says will help keep schools safer, including a training program for teachers and other school staff who want to carry a firearm.

The "model training program" would include a background check for school staffers who want to carry a firearm as well as 40-60 hours in training, former representative Asa Hutchinson, director of the project, said during a press conference at the National Press Club.

The report acknowledged many schools were unable to afford adding school resource officers (SROs) to their staff, which they site as an "important layer of security for prevention and response in case of an active threat on a school campus."

While the NRA initially advocated for former police officers to volunteer to guard schools, Hutchinson said the NRA's research caused the group to back off that approach.